Indirect Rate report: fringe, overhead and G&A
Calculate fringe, overhead and G&A rates from QuickBooks Online in WiseCost, by account in ICE style or by pool, with an Excel workbook of live formulas.
The Indirect Rate report in WiseCost calculates your fringe, overhead and G&A rates from your QuickBooks Online data. Run it from Reports → New Report → Indirect Rate. Each rate is a pool of indirect costs divided by its allocation base, and which account belongs where comes from the roles you assign in Company Setup → Accounts.
Who can do this: an Administrator, usually with the company's CPA.
Three definitions
- Indirect rate: a pool of indirect costs divided by an allocation base. It is how costs that serve many contracts are spread across them.
- Fringe: employee-related costs such as payroll taxes, health insurance and paid leave.
- Overhead: costs of supporting the work on contracts, such as supervision and facilities. G&A (general and administrative): costs of running the organization as a whole, such as accounting and executive management.
Before you start
Assign a role to each account. The report is only as good as those assignments. See Assigning account roles.
Run the report
- Go to Reports → New Report and click Indirect Rate.
- Set its filters.
- Run it, and choose a view.
By account
The By account view follows the layout of a DCAA incurred cost submission (ICE): for each rate, every account of the pool and of the base sits on its own line. Expand a line to see the QuickBooks Online transactions behind it.
By pool
The By pool view is the summary: fringe, overhead and G&A, each with its pool, its base and the resulting rate.
Unallowable costs and Facilities
- Accounts with the Unallowable role stay out of every pool and are included in the G&A base.
- Accounts with the Facilities (split) role are divided between overhead and G&A. You describe the allocation basis of the split in a free-text field, for example square footage, so the report documents it.
Download as Excel
Download as Excel creates an audit workbook with live formulas, not pasted values, and a Transactions tab with the detail. An auditor or your CPA can trace every rate back to its transactions.
Common questions
How do I calculate fringe, overhead and G&A rates from QuickBooks Online?
Assign a role to each account in Company Setup → Accounts, then run the Indirect Rate report. WiseCost groups your QuickBooks Online transactions into pools and bases and calculates each rate.
A cost is in the wrong pool. How do I fix it?
Change the role of its account in Company Setup → Accounts and run the report again.
Where do unallowable costs go?
They are excluded from all pools and included in the G&A base.
Are these my provisional billing rates?
They are rates calculated from your actuals. Deciding your provisional rates is a conversation with your CPA. The P&L report can apply either.
Further reading from the WiseCost blog
How to Calculate Indirect Rates in QuickBooks Online (and See True Cost by Contract)
How indirect rates work (pool over a base), how to apply them per contract, and why QuickBooks Online shows gross profit but not true, fully-loaded cost.
The Incurred Cost Audit, Explained for Small GovCons
The incurred cost audit is the biggest DCAA review most small GovCons face. Here is how it works, from risk assessment to sampling to document requests, and how to be ready.